His Secret Desire Read Online Free PDF Page A

chest. My mouth hung open. I picked up the note and read it slowly.
    Come to my office as soon as you read this. We have something to discuss. - Alex
    “Samantha! I’ve been trying to get ahold of you since yesterday! Your phone’s been off. What happened at your meeting with Mr. Strauss?” It was Emily’s voice coming from behind me. I didn’t even hear her come up on me as I reread the note over and over. Her face was wrinkled with worry. She was genuinely worried about me.
    “I...Um...” I said, tripping over my words before I found the right ones. “Nothing happened.” My face blushed and betrayed me again.
    “Wait a second, did something happen?” Emily asks, her voice falling to a low whisper as she leaned in closer to me. A feigned look of concern covered a wry smile.
    “You totally fucked him, didn’t you!” Emily whispered. It wasn’t a question.
    Another pang of shock filled my veins and flashed across my face. How could Emily have known so quickly that we had sex? I looked around at my co-workers eyeing us like hungry vultures. Luckily, Emily’s voice was barely audible even to me. She was good at whispering.
    “Why would you think that?” I asked reproachfully.
    “Mr. Strauss actually came down to the floor and spoke with some of the employees. Samantha, he has never spoken to any of the temps before, let alone come down to the temp offices! It seems kinda weird that you get called up into his office yesterday, leave immediately afterwards without even talking to me or anybody else, and then suddenly today he’s strolling around the temp offices schmoozing with the employees? Don’t you think that’s a little odd?” Emily asked, lowering her voice further.
    “I don’t know, Emily. There’s a first for everything, right?”
    “And now you’re coming in here, late, and wearing that!” Emily said, her hands motioning towards my outfit.
    Shame came upon me quickly. Emily knew that something improper had happened. Did everybody know? God, would I leave an infamous tale of a temp who fucked the boss and then got the boot? A no-named harlot who would be one more notch on the CEO’s belt?
    “Forget my clothes. What did he say to all of you guys?” I asked.
    “I mean, he didn’t speak to every single one of us.” Emily crossed her arms as if insulted. Strauss obviously hadn’t talked to her, yet he must have remembered her from yesterday. “He basically asked everyone about their daily jobs. Asked them if they were happy here. If there was anything he could do for them. He even made some comments about the pictures in people’s cubicles. Honestly, it sort of scared the shit out of everyone. People have been talking about it nonstop like he came down here to console us before he wiped us all out or eliminated the department or something.”
    I recalled talking to Strauss yesterday, calling him arrogant. My words rang out in my head. You own this company and all these people’s lives depend on you and you are too good to even grace them with your presence once. I remembered how I had put so much venom in those words. I had wanted them to break skin.
    Alexander Strauss, the recluse CEO, had never talked to any of these employees. Now, he had come down to my department and had talked to them like they were real people. Through the panic of the moment, the sheer surreality of it, was the thought that his coming down here was sweet. He had listened. Not only that, he had acted upon what I said.
    I looked at the note again. There was a number on the bottom.
    “Emily, look, I’ll tell you everything. Promise. But not right now, ok? I have to make a call. A private call,” I said.
    “Fine, but as soon as you can, you better tell me everything,” Emily said. I could tell she pushed away her annoyance at being kept in the dark. I inwardly praised her restraint as she walked away.
    I dialed the number. After one ring a husky voice picked up. “Wait at the elevator, Miss Dubois. I’ll be